Am i screwed? =/

[petriedish716]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi all, I am very new to this forum but I have spent much time on it browsing around and reading this and that. Sorry for being a noob and posting this in an inappropriate place if I did so. I was just wondering about my stats and my chances of being accepted in dental school. Im very interested in the field but I kinda messed up in the beginning..

I attended St Johns University for the first 3 semester. First semester- 3.2. 2nd- 0.0 3rd- .92 (I dropped most of my classes the last 2 semesters except for a class. Most of them are unoffical withdraws) After this, I dropped out of school for around a year, but now I am 3 semesters deep in my local community college with a GPA of 3.65.

I made a huge improvement, but I am not sure if it is enough. When the two schools are averaged, its way below what I should have to become accepted in any dental school anyway.. I still have 2 years left for my undegrad. Am i screwed? =/

 

[psi169]

I think most people would agree that your GPA is too low. You wouldn't make the GPA cutoffs that most schools have. I think you need at least a 3.0 science average GPA to be considered. However, adding community college into the mix, most schools won't take CC credits.

That being said, I think you should do as well as you can in the rest of your CC classes (as they are nonetheless grades) and you should plan on doing a 2 years master program at a 4 year university, ACE your masters classes, and do well on the DAT. You need a 2 years masters program so that you have 1 year of coursework to show on your application at the time you apply to dental school.

Its not the end of the world. You can explain what happened to your first GPA dive (and be prepared to answer when asked directly) and continue to show improvement. Best of luck to you.

 

[laundry]

Here's what you do.

Stick to doing well in school, finish what you can at community college and transfer to a 4 yr university. Take the majority of prereqs at that university and make sure you still do well up until graduation (by well I mean GPA>3.5).

Become involved - join clubs, shadow dentists, the whole thing.

Do well on the DAT.

Graduate and Apply to Dental school.


I've said this many times, and I'm sure this isn't the last one. MS degrees are NOT a postbac. there is NO (!!!) reason why you should enroll in a science thesis-based degree program just to show that you can take on a graduate level training that is dental school. Wanna impress adcoms? Keep kicking ass right through graduation. Heck even take a couple of courses at a grad level. But don't waste 2 years on a MS....

 

[dentat712]

i agree with ^
btw are you hot? just wondering. that helps sometimes.

 

[xaznxcountx]

i agree with ^
btw are you hot? just wondering. that helps sometimes.

HAHAHA are you serious???

 

[horns1011]

I think most people would agree that your GPA is too low. You wouldn't make the GPA cutoffs that most schools have. I think you need at least a 3.0 science average GPA to be considered. However, adding community college into the mix, most schools won't take CC credits.

Do you know what schools have gpa cutoffs? or do all schools have a certain cutoff point?

 

[MrBeans]

Do you know what schools have gpa cutoffs? or do all schools have a certain cutoff point?

It seems the general cut off for consideration is generally 2.7 for both sGPA and cGPA.

However, many schools also include a disclaimer something like: "Your GPA must be much higher to be considered competitive as the applicant pool is based on a rolling average."

 

[bigcavity]

Here's what you do.

Stick to doing well in school, finish what you can at community college and transfer to a 4 yr university. Take the majority of prereqs at that university and make sure you still do well up until graduation (by well I mean GPA>3.5).

Become involved - join clubs, shadow dentists, the whole thing.

Do well on the DAT.

Graduate and Apply to Dental school.


I've said this many times, and I'm sure this isn't the last one. MS degrees are NOT a postbac. there is NO (!!!) reason why you should enroll in a science thesis-based degree program just to show that you can take on a graduate level training that is dental school. Wanna impress adcoms? Keep kicking ass right through graduation. Heck even take a couple of courses at a grad level. But don't waste 2 years on a MS....

I don't really agree with Laundry. Given your background in a community college, I think it would look great if you did a formal thesis-based master's at a non-community college program. With a higher degree, I think you're a more mature and overall better applicant in the eyes of adcoms. Plus, you may even do better than your classmates in d-school with graduate experience.
I was a non-science major with a slightly lower GPA, and I did a 2+year master's of science (thesis). It was difficult, but I wouldn't change anything I did because i got into my top choice. Good luck!

 

[petriedish716]

Thanks for all the responses guys.. I didn't think I would even get one lol. Couple people have mentioned that I should do the masters.. would that really be the best choice? I am transferring to a decent 4 year university next semester. If i get a straight 4.0 average, do you think it would be enough? Especially since I have not taken much science classes yet.. I plan on taking all of it in my last 2 years. I also heard from someone that admissions people might appreciate the huge upward trend..

but you guys probably know much more than me. Watchu thought?? 😕

 

[dentat712]

i think if yous is hot, then you're in fo sheezy. WOOT WOOT
ok sorry.

hi everyone!

 

[YoungGregory]

Hi all, I am very new to this forum but I have spent much time on it browsing around and reading this and that. Sorry for being a noob and posting this in an inappropriate place if I did so. I was just wondering about my stats and my chances of being accepted in dental school. Im very interested in the field but I kinda messed up in the beginning..

I attended St Johns University for the first 3 semester. First semester- 3.2. 2nd- 0.0 3rd- .92 (I dropped most of my classes the last 2 semesters except for a class. Most of them are unoffical withdraws) After this, I dropped out of school for around a year, but now I am 3 semesters deep in my local community college with a GPA of 3.65.

I made a huge improvement, but I am not sure if it is enough. When the two schools are averaged, its way below what I should have to become accepted in any dental school anyway.. I still have 2 years left for my undegrad. Am i screwed? =/

How far are you behind? are you gonna graduate as a 5th year?

 

[petriedish716]

Well i dropped out of the first school I attended to, took a year off, and now I am at my local community college 3 semesters in. I plan on transferring to a 4-year university next semester. So I am technically 2 years behind.. but not really graduating as a fifth year anywhere.